Home Treatment for Tooth Abscess

Home treatment for tooth abscess is tricky business, but is not impossible. A painful infection causes an abscessed tooth. The infection is located at the tooth’s root, or is in between the tooth and the gum. Usually the abscess is caused by tooth decay. Trauma to the tooth, gum disease, or gingivitis can also cause this painful infection.

A severe toothache with throbbing or sharp pain could be a sign of an abscessed tooth. You may also have common signs of infection such as fever, swollen glands, and feeling generally ill. A tooth infection can also cause your teeth to be sensitive to cold or heat. You may have bad breath and a bitter taste in your mouth. There may be swelling and redness of the gums and you may even have a draining open sore.

If the infection is left untreated, the pain may temporarily go away because the root of the tooth has died. The infection however, will still be active and it can spread from there. Untreated tooth infection can spread to the jaw bone where it can cause serious and permanent damage to the bone. The infection can also form pockets of puss which can rupture through the skin. A completely uncontrolled infection can cause systemic problems such as heart failure or sepsis.

Because of the seriousness of the potential complications of untreated tooth abscesses, home remedies need to be monitored closely and if they are not helping, a dentist visit is strongly recommended. If you don’t have the money for treatment that will save the tooth, a dentist may have to pull the affected tooth. This option may not sound great, but it is better than losing part of your jaw bone, or worse, to a runaway infection.

Older home remedies include holding salt water in your mouth for at least ten minutes at a time each hour. Some people will tell you to pack the tooth area with tea bags. Both of these work on the premise that salt and tea leaves contain some antibacterial properties. Remember an abscess is a bacterial infection.

A more modern remedy is to use antiseptic throat lozenges which are commonly sold in grocery stores. You need to place the lozenge up against the area of the tooth with the abscess so that antiseptic can get as close to the infected area as possible. Hold the lozenge there for several hours. Don’t suck the lozenge since you want to antiseptic to be on the tooth and not down your throat. Make sure that you move the lozenge to the other side of the tooth at regular intervals. Antiseptic mouthwash can have the same effect in theory. It is just hard to hold the mouthwash in your mouth for any lengthy period of time.

Using this method, there should be some relief of the toothache within 24 hours. If you don’t feel relief in that time period, then a dentist visit would be wise. Infections take time to be completely eradicated, so even though you feel better you need to keep up with the treatment for at least one week.

One side-effect to this home treatment for tooth abscess is that the lozenge can irritate the skin on your cheek, tongue, and your gums. Try to find antiseptic lozenges that do not also contain menthol or other ingredients that could irritate your skin. You may also want to take ibuprofen. This will be an anti-inflammatory for the abscess and will also help with pain control until your tooth feels better.

Remember that a tooth abscess is an infection and if left untreated it can lead to problems far more serious than the loss of your tooth. If you have tried home treatment for tooth abscess and have not been successful, a trip to the dentist could prevent even more serious problems from developing.